Hester Pierce: Bitcoin ETF should have been approved a long time ago

An exchange-traded spot fund (ETF) based on the first cryptocurrency should have been approved five years ago, SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce said in an interview CNBC.

In July, the SEC accepted requests to launch digital gold spot funds from BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree. Franklin Templeton later joined them.

The SEC employee admitted that her views regarding digital assets differ significantly from the vision of the agency itself. Pierce said she “cannot predict how her colleagues will approach this topic.”

On August 31, the regulator delayed making a decision on several applications until at least mid-October. At the end of September, the regulator postponed the consideration of Bitcoin ETFs to January 2024.

Pierce is a longtime supporter of cryptocurrencies. She has previously said that the industry’s ambiguity in regulation is harmful to US citizens.

In September, the official hinted at a possible change in the SEC’s crypto policy. Pearce admits that she did not expect the Commission to be so slow in finding solutions to the regulatory framework for digital assets when it joined in 2018.

Let us remind you that at the time of writing, the department is conducting civil litigation against the companies Coinbase and Binance. This year, the Commission’s claims were settled by large Bitcoin exchanges Kraken and Bittrex.

In August, the court sided with Grayscale in a case against the SEC regarding the conversion of GBTC into an exchange-traded fund. The regulator refused to appeal this verdict.

In October, the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse alleging violations of securities laws.